Gemma 3 27B IT vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads llmrun Score 106.8 to 79.4; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 4.2× faster on RTX 4090 (~151 vs ~36 tok/s).

Model A · Google

Gemma 3 27B IT

79.4llmrun Score

27.4B · 128K context · Gemma Terms · Mar 2025

Vision

Model B · Alibaba

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

106.8llmrun Score

36.0B · 4.7B active · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2026

VisionFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Gemma 3 27B IT if you want…

Lighter on memory
18.1 vs 22.0 GB at Q4_K_M

Choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
106.8 vs 79.4
Stronger at coding
105.3 vs 69.9
Stronger at reasoning
103.7 vs 73.8
Ahead on the benchmarks
6 of 6 shared boards
4.2× faster on RTX 4090
~151 vs ~36 tok/s
Longer context window
256K vs 128K tokens

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemoryGemma 3 27B ITQwen3.6 35B A3B

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Gemma 3 27B IT

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 11.9 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 10.4 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Gemma 3 27B IT

IQ2_XXS · ~28 tok/s

11.9 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

IQ2_S · ~114 tok/s

11.7 GB · up to 32K

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q2_K_S · ~24 tok/s

15.7 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q2_K · ~108 tok/s

15.7 GB · up to 32K

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q4_K_M · ~36 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 16K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~151 tok/s

22 GB · up to 128Kfaster

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 32K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~213 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q4_K_M · ~28 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 64K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~125 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q4_K_M · ~5 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 32K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~24 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q4_K_M · ~21 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 128K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Gemma 3 27B IT

Q4_K_M · ~21 tok/s

21.7 GB · up to 128K

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Q4_K_M · ~64 tok/s

22 GB · up to 256Kfaster

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Gemma 3 27B IT Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Overall

Gemma 3 27B IT

79.475–83

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

106.8104–110

Coding

Gemma 3 27B IT

69.954–86

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

105.399–112

Math

Gemma 3 27B IT

no data

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

109.0104–114

Science

Gemma 3 27B IT

80.872–90

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

110.1101–119

Reasoning

Gemma 3 27B IT

73.862–86

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

103.796–112

Gemma 3 27B IT · #91 of 106 open models · #26 of 36 that fit 24 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B · #41 of 106 open models · #3 of 36 that fit 24 GB

Benchmarks

6 shared boards: Gemma 3 27B IT leads 0, Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads 6 · Benchmarks imported Nov 2026

BoardGemma 3 27B ITQwen3.6 35B A3B

GPQA Diamond

Gemma 3 27B IT

47.7%#59/100 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

84.9%#23/100 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

AIME 2024/2025

Gemma 3 27B IT

22.5%#54/88 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

86.7%#22/88 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Apr 2026

SciCode

Gemma 3 27B IT

23.3%#67/72 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

36.6%#48/72 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

CritPt

Gemma 3 27B IT

0.0%#58/84 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

0.3%#51/84 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

DTBench

Gemma 3 27B IT

52.5%#59/70 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

73.9%#32/70 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

LMCA

Gemma 3 27B IT

12.3%#47/56 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Mar 2025

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

29.7%#20/56 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

10 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only Gemma 3 27B IT (5)

Only Qwen3.6 35B A3B (5)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

QuantGemma 3 27B ITQwen3.6 35B A3B

Q2_K

Gemma 3 27B IT

12.8 GB10.5 GB file

32K 20.6 GB · 128K 45.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

15.7 GB13.5 GB file

32K 15.9 GB · 128K 16.9 GB

Q3_K_S

Gemma 3 27B IT

13.2 GB12.2 GB file

32K 21.0 GB · 128K 45.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

16.1 GB15.4 GB file

32K 16.4 GB · 128K 17.4 GB

Q3_K_M

Gemma 3 27B IT

14.7 GB13.4 GB file

32K 22.5 GB · 128K 47.3 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

17.9 GB16.6 GB file

32K 18.2 GB · 128K 19.2 GB

Q4_0

Gemma 3 27B IT

15.1 GB15.6 GB file

32K 22.9 GB · 128K 47.7 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

18.4 GB19.8 GB file

32K 18.6 GB · 128K 19.6 GB

Q4_K_M

Gemma 3 27B IT

18.1 GB16.5 GB file

32K 25.9 GB · 128K 50.7 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

22.0 GB22.1 GB file

32K 22.2 GB · 128K 23.2 GB

Q5_K_M

Gemma 3 27B IT

21.5 GB19.3 GB file

32K 29.3 GB · 128K 54.1 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

26.0 GB26.5 GB file

32K 26.3 GB · 128K 27.3 GB

Q6_K

Gemma 3 27B IT

24.9 GB22.2 GB file

32K 32.7 GB · 128K 57.5 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

30.0 GB29.3 GB file

32K 30.3 GB · 128K 31.3 GB

Q8_0

Gemma 3 27B IT

30.2 GB28.7 GB file

32K 37.9 GB · 128K 62.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

36.3 GB36.9 GB file

32K 36.6 GB · 128K 37.6 GB

20 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Gemma 3 27B IT

8.3 GB7.9 GB file

32K 16.1 GB · 128K 40.9 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

10.3 GB10.8 GB file

32K 10.5 GB · 128K 11.5 GB

IQ2_XS

Gemma 3 27B IT

9.1 GB8.4 GB file

32K 16.8 GB · 128K 41.7 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

11.2 GB11.7 GB file

32K 11.4 GB · 128K 12.4 GB

IQ2_S

Gemma 3 27B IT

9.4 GB8.8 GB file

32K 17.2 GB · 128K 42.0 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

11.6 GB11.9 GB file

32K 11.9 GB · 128K 12.9 GB

IQ2_M

Gemma 3 27B IT

10.2 GB9.6 GB file

32K 17.9 GB · 128K 42.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

12.5 GB11.5 GB file

32K 12.8 GB · 128K 13.8 GB

IQ3_XXS

Gemma 3 27B IT

11.7 GB10.8 GB file

32K 19.5 GB · 128K 44.3 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

14.3 GB13.2 GB file

32K 14.6 GB · 128K 15.6 GB

Q2_K_S

Gemma 3 27B IT

12.1 GB9.8 GB file

32K 19.8 GB · 128K 44.7 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

14.8 GB12.2 GB file

32K 15.0 GB · 128K 16.0 GB

IQ3_XS

Gemma 3 27B IT

12.5 GB11.6 GB file

32K 20.2 GB · 128K 45.1 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

15.2 GB17.1 GB file

32K 15.5 GB · 128K 16.5 GB

IQ3_S

Gemma 3 27B IT

12.8 GB12.2 GB file

32K 20.6 GB · 128K 45.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

15.7 GB13.7 GB file

32K 15.9 GB · 128K 16.9 GB

IQ3_M

Gemma 3 27B IT

13.6 GB12.5 GB file

32K 21.3 GB · 128K 46.2 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

16.6 GB17.8 GB file

32K 16.8 GB · 128K 17.8 GB

Q3_K_L

Gemma 3 27B IT

15.5 GB14.5 GB file

32K 23.2 GB · 128K 48.1 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

18.8 GB17.8 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 20.1 GB

IQ4_XS

Gemma 3 27B IT

16.2 GB14.8 GB file

32K 24.0 GB · 128K 48.8 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

19.7 GB17.7 GB file

32K 20.0 GB · 128K 21.0 GB

IQ4_NL

Gemma 3 27B IT

17.0 GB15.6 GB file

32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

20.6 GB18.0 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB

Q4_1

Gemma 3 27B IT

17.0 GB17.2 GB file

32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

20.6 GB22.9 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB

Q4_K_S

Gemma 3 27B IT

17.0 GB15.7 GB file

32K 24.7 GB · 128K 49.6 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

20.6 GB20.9 GB file

32K 20.9 GB · 128K 21.9 GB

Q4_K_L

Gemma 3 27B IT

18.5 GB16.9 GB file

32K 26.2 GB · 128K 51.1 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

22.4 GB22.7 GB file

32K 22.7 GB · 128K 23.7 GB

Q5_0

Gemma 3 27B IT

18.9 GB18.8 GB file

32K 26.6 GB · 128K 51.5 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

22.9 GB24.1 GB file

32K 23.1 GB · 128K 24.1 GB

Q5_1

Gemma 3 27B IT

20.8 GB20.4 GB file

32K 28.5 GB · 128K 53.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

25.1 GB26.1 GB file

32K 25.4 GB · 128K 26.4 GB

Q5_K_S

Gemma 3 27B IT

20.8 GB18.8 GB file

32K 28.5 GB · 128K 53.4 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

25.1 GB24.9 GB file

32K 25.4 GB · 128K 26.4 GB

Q5_K_L

Gemma 3 27B IT

21.9 GB19.6 GB file

32K 29.6 GB · 128K 54.5 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

26.5 GB26.2 GB file

32K 26.7 GB · 128K 27.7 GB

BF16

Gemma 3 27B IT

60.4 GB54.0 GB file

32K 68.1 GB · 128K 93.0 GB

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

72.3 GB69.4 GB file

32K 72.5 GB · 128K 73.6 GB

How to run each

Gemma 3 27B IT

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/gemma-3-27b-it-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Gemma 3 27B IT →

Qwen3.6 35B A3B

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Qwen3.6 35B A3B →

Specifications

Specifications of Gemma 3 27B IT and Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Spec	Gemma 3 27B IT	Qwen3.6 35B A3B
Publisher	Google	Alibaba
Parameters	27.4B	36.0B
Active parameters	—	4.7B per token
Architecture	—	Qwen3_5MoeForConditionalGeneration
Context	128K tokens	256K tokens
Modalities	Vision	Vision, Function-calling
License	Gemma Terms	Apache 2.0
Released	Mar 2025	Apr 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B leads llmrun Score 106.8 to 79.4; both fit 24 GB at Q4_K_M; Qwen3.6 35B A3B is 4.2× faster on RTX 4090 (~151 vs ~36 tok/s). Choose Gemma 3 27B IT for lighter on memory; choose Qwen3.6 35B A3B for higher llmrun Score and stronger at coding.

Which needs less VRAM, Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

At Q4_K_M, Gemma 3 27B IT requires 18.1 GB while Qwen3.6 35B A3B needs 22.0 GB, making Gemma 3 27B IT the easier model to run on your local setup.

Which is faster on RTX 4090?

Estimated decode speed on RTX 4090 is about 36 tok/s for Gemma 3 27B IT (Q4_K_M) and 151 tok/s for Qwen3.6 35B A3B (Q4_K_M), so Qwen3.6 35B A3B is faster. Estimates, ±20%.

Can I run Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen3.6 35B A3B on a 16 GB GPU?

Gemma 3 27B IT fits at Q2_K_S; Qwen3.6 35B A3B fits at Q2_K.

Which has a longer context window, Gemma 3 27B IT or Qwen3.6 35B A3B?

Gemma 3 27B IT supports 131,072 tokens and Qwen3.6 35B A3B supports 262,144 tokens.